20 OCTOBER 1883, Page 15

THE INHERITANCE OF PHYSICAL INJURIES.

(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIE,-Dr. Bell Taylor, in the Spectator of the 13th, says that physical injuries are inherited. I have not made original obser. vations, but I have studied and abstracted carefully the enor- mous mass of facts contained in Darwin's " Variations of Animals and Plants under Domestication," and have concluded that, as a general rule, subject, no doubt, to exceptions, exter- nally produced injuries are not inherited, but functionally pro- duced modifications are. Short-sight, produced by straining the eyes, is a good example of the latter.—I am, Sir, &c., JOSEPH JOAN MURPHY. Old Forge, Dunmurry, County Antrim, October 15th.